


Runaway

by acertainperson



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Recreational Drug Use, Runaway Suzie, Sexual References, family fight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:54:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25013500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acertainperson/pseuds/acertainperson
Summary: After Suzies parents learn of Dustin through a neighbour, they are not amused. And neither is Suzie when they ground her as punishment. (Number of chapters isnt set yet because im not sure if i want to add any more or do that in a seperate story, but the main story is done)
Relationships: Dustin Henderson/Suzie
Kudos: 7





	1. Salt Lake City

She had feared it, but never thought it would go down like this. She knew that her relation with Dustin would have been difficult enough due to living several states apart, in different time zones. Letalone her family being less than open towards strangers. But she didnt expect it to go down like this. 

It had been just another radio call between her and Dustin. Nothing out of the ordinary. What she didnt know, however, is that one of her neighbours had gotten a radio set recently. And that neighbour picked their call up, and, being as mormons were, informed her parents of her now not so secret anymore boyfriend. They were furious. She was shaken.

She didnt percieve much of what her parents said. It all turned into a blur as they shouted at her over just how many rules she had broken, having a boyfriend, one whos not even a mormon, having been alone with him and noone else present, lying about it to her parents, thus disrespecting them, it all turned into a blur. And her shock slowly turned into anger.

"SHUT UP!" she suddenly lashed out in her parents' faces, "JUST SHUT UP!". Her parents were suddenly perplexed, "I really do love him alright! And did Jesus not teach to love your neighbour as yourself?" "This is-" "How is this different?" Suzie interjected, before her father could even finish the sentence, "Because the elders say so? Well why would i care?!"

Her parents both had a face of disbelief. Rejecting the elders was nearly sacrilegious. "So thats where this boy has driven you to. He made you reject the message of our Lord." Her mother said. "What point is there in listening to his message when he wont even let me be me?" she asked, "Its not like he gave me much of a choice!"

"I think you need some time to think about your words." her father said, as he and her mother left the room, before locking the door behind them. But if the prophet wont come to the mountain, then, as far as she was concerned, the mountain had to come to the prophet.

She took the very same bag she had taken to Camp Know Where, and began loading it up with clothes, money, everything she could possibly need on her way to Hawkins. And of course, she couldnt forget Dustins cap. He had given it to her as a parting gift. She wouldnt leave that behind, whatever the cost may be.

After loading up her bag, she carefully lifted it through her window, as to not make any noise, and then climbed out herself, before beginning the perilous descent across their garage roof. After she had made it down with nothing but a few scratches, she picked up her bag and ran. She ran as far as her legs would carry her. Until she realized that she would never get to Hawkins by foot. Not from Salt Lake City anyway. 

She figured her best bet would be to take public transportation. But to where? Afterall, Hawkins surely wouldnt have a direct bus or train line connecting it to Salt Lake City. But at least, she could start going east. Afterall, what could her parents possibly do about it?

After walking to Salt Lake Central, she took a look at the various train lines. One of them would take her to Denver. Not quite Indiana, but a good bit of the way there. After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, that same train finally arrived, and she stepped inside, her ticket ready. Luckily, she had thought to bring a pillow, because this would be a 15 hour ride.


	2. Denver

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once in Denver, Suzie has waffles and gets a little makeover, before travelling on.

It was around 10 in the morning when Suzie arrived in Denver. She had slept through most of the train ride, thanks to her pillow. Some people had given her, a 16 year old girl travelling alone across state lines, some curious look, but none had bothered to say anything about it. After that long a journey though, she was also quite hungry, and had luckily packed some money for such an occasion. After digging through her bag, she eventually found it, and left the station in search of some food.

There were a lot of food places near the station, but she eventually picked up on the smell of what she assumed to be a breakfast place. And whatever exactly it was that they were serving, as far as she was concerned, it sure smelled delicious, and so she followed the smell to its source. If the food tasted as good as it smelled, she was in for quite a treat.

She entered the place, taking a seat at an empty table, where a menu was already waiting to be read. The food there sounded equally delicious as the smell had suggested, though she wasnt sure if they had even thought about the amount of sugar on some of the waffles. Then again, something that sweet was just what she needed, and she quickly made a decision.

"What can i bring you?" a waitress asked. "I would like the waffle with some maple syrup... please." Suzies families didnt really go to restaurants a lot, and the few times they did, her parents would usually be the ones ordering, not her. The fact she was now legally a runaway didnt really help it either. The waitress didnt seem to care though. "Of course miss." she said, "I will be right back."

Sticking to her promise, the waitress came right back after a rather short wait to serve the waffle she had ordered. After speaking a prayer (she still did believe in God afterall, just not some of what she had been taught) she began to tuck in, and even though everything had given her high expectations so far, these waffles were beyond said expectations. Sweet, fluffy, and filling. These certainly left an impression on her. 

New standards for waffles aside, after paying up, she at first turned back to the station she had just left, but then decided that, instead, she should try and get some new clothes. She looked way too much like a mormon in her current clothes. Too much potential for someone to notice.

She went to then nearest mall to buy some. She had never really been allowed to pick her clothes herself, especially with her parents having some clear guidelines regarding which clothes were appropriate, and while she wasnt planning to veer off from those guidelines too far, tempting as it was to just go all out while she was at it, her new style certainly had her look a lot more like an average teenager than a runaway mormon.

She then turned around and went back towards the station, or rather, where she believed it to be. However, this being a big city, she had gotten a tad lost. She turned to a group of boys around her age to ask them for the way. 

"Excuse me," she said, "How do i get to the Station from here?" "The train station? On block further down, then to your right up 17th sweetie." one of the boys answered, "Cut it Mark." another immediately interjected. "Come on, you gotta admit shes cute." he said, trying to ruffle her hair. Suzie, however, rejected that advance with a slap across his face, sending the other boys roaring. "Slut." she could hear the boy mumbling under his breath, but at least, she had the info she needed now, and made her way there, before preparing for the next leg of her journey.


	3. Kansas City

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once in Kansas City, Suzie faces a hard night and meets some drifters.

It was about midnight when she arrived in Kansas City, most of which, as it turned out, actually was in Nebraska. She didnt really have the money to go to a hotel, especially considering that it wasnt exactly likely anyone would let her stay in one anyway, considering her age, so for lack of a better option, she ended up sleeping inside the station. She certainly hadnt expected to be staying in hotels all the way, but she hadnt thought this was what she would face either.

She woke up with a painful back in the morning, at around 7am. Benches, as it turns out, were not the greatest place to lie on, even if you used your clothes as a makeshift matress. And the fact that trains were loud didnt really help the girls sleep out either.

There was, however, one group of kids, some older than her, who, while they looked like delinquents, seemed like the type of people who would know how to deal with the kind of situation she was currently finding herself in. Maybe they could help her out. "Hey there?" she said, in almost an asking tone. The groups heads turned to face her.

"And you are?" One of them asked.   
They were 4 in total. The one who had just spoken was a girl of about 17 years of age by her estimate, wearing torn jeans, a shirt with what looked to be the logo of some kind of metal band, and had about chestlong, dark brown hair, with some streaks of purple in it.   
The second wasa male about the same age, maybe a year younger, had blue hair and very similar clothes, except his jeans were covered in various patches rather than torn, and he was also wearing a leather jacket.  
The other two appeared to be twins, both of them about her age and looking relatively normal compared to the other two, except that their jeans looked pretty worn down and their originally blond hair was rather colorful.

"My name is Suzie." she told them, "Are you runaways?" "Some of us." the girl older girl said, "And judging by your sleeping spot, youre probably low on cash, amirite?" She nodded, "Well, if you want we could take you along for a bit. Im Jen." Talking to Jen, she seemed nice enough. She was somewhat distrustful of strangers, having not had much contact with them, but her intuition told her that, despite their appearance, they were good people. "Sure." she replied, hoping the group could take her to Hawkins, or at least closer to it.

"In that case, its time to meet the gang." The older boy told her, "Im Don, and these two are Percy and Alec. Couldnt tell you for the life of me which is which though." "So, what are you doing here?" Suzie asked, "Like, here in particular?"

"Well, lets just say theres a lot of good stores here." One of the twins noted, "We need to buy stuff occasionally." She wasnt sure what kind of stuff they were talking about, and neither did she really want to know, but she hoped there was food involved. She was hungry for sure. "Like, food stuff too?" she asked. Why did she always have to be so on the nose about everything? "Yeah, that too. Though usually not here." pointed out the other twin, "Youd be surprised how good Alec's hash browns are though."

She wasnt sure what hash browns were, or wether they had any correlation to hash, but if they had food, and the ability to cook it, that had to mean they were in at least a better spot than her. "While were at it," Jen pointed out, "We should probably go grocery shopping. Can you cook?" Suzie nodded once again. Her parents werent strictly anti-education, at least not by mormon standards, but, holding the opinion that she should marry within the religion and become a housewife, cooking was actually one of the things they had taught her. She wasnt sure, though, if the type of homecooking she had been taught was the type of cooking that they had in mind.

"May just be the fresh wind we need." Don said, "As good as what he can cook are, we cant live off of Alec's rather limited palette forever, and takeaway is expensive." She wasnt quite sure what they were expecting her to cook, but judging by the group, this was bound to be an interesting part of her journey for sure. "Well then lets get moving." said the twin whom she had previously figured out would have to be Alec, "Off to the van."

The van in question turned out to be a minibus, the rear windows of which had been covered up with cardboard. considering its owners, the van itself seemed to be in relatively decent shape, though the way it was painted made it look rather run down, appearing to be a costum paintjob.

As she entered, the place actually looked surprisingly cozy, even when sharing the space with 4 others. As she loaded her bag, one of the twins, whom she presumed to be Alec, got out a waffle iron and a grater, a knife, and some potatos. "Whats he doing?" she asked the other twin, who entered just after. "Hes making hash browns." Percy replied. "You do realize its rude to talk about someone in third person when theyre in the room with you right?" said Alec, to both of them. "Sorry." Suzie said, "Its just a lot to take in. Its only been days since i ran away." "Well, at least youre not on your own anymore." Said Don, hoping to cheer her up a bit.

Not on her own. That much was true. Thinking back, that boy she slapped back in Kansas, him and his friends could have overpowered her with ease had they wanted to. But she had friends now. Sure, they all either wore torn jeans, patched ones, or had color in their hair, usually a combination of the three, but for once she didnt have to fight that uphill battle all on her own anymore. And besides, she was more than half way there. Of the 3 states that had seperated her and Dustin just days ago, only 1 was left. Only 400 miles of the 1300 that originally lay between them.

Speaking of which, Dustin, she realized, was probably worried sick. They hadnt talked in several days now. Missing a day every now and again was normal, but if anything came up that stopped them for more, theyd usually tell each other.

"That cap yours?" Suzies thoughts were suddenly interrupted when Jen held the cap Dustin had given her. "Yeah, why?" she asked. "Was just outside the van. Didnt look a lot like yours though." "Well, its not mine in that sense." she said, "I met this boy in a summer camp, it was his parting gift. We built this radio tower to talk to each other across state lines because well, if my parents found out-" she was about to cry a bit. Jen didnt say a thing, but Suzie figured she could guess the full story from that info.

"I came out to my parents." Percy said, after a moment of silence. "They wanted to send me to a camp to cure me, but i knew its all bullshit. And well, Alec didnt want to let me go alone, so he went with me." Suzie wasnt quite sure of what they wanted to cure him at first, until she noticed that both of them wore a rainbow colored bracelet. "That mustve hurt." she said with a sympathetic smile, and Percy smiled back. "So, where does he live, your boyfriend?" Don asked, after another pause. "In a town called Hawkins, in Indiana." she said, "Do you know where it is?" "That town where the mall burnt down?" Jen asked, "I think i know where that is. Right past Chicago, towards Detroit. A little stop in St. Louis and thats basically it."

"Here come the hash browns." Alec announced all of a sudden. Of course, he had still been making his hash browns. She still wasnt sure what they actually were, but now she wanted to try them. They tasted surprisingly good. Pretty much exactly how she expected them to taste, considering they were basically all potatoes, but good nonetheless. "Lets finish up that and go on to St. Louis shall we?" Don suggested.


	4. South Shore, St. Louis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the last leg of her journey, Suzie and her newfound friends make a pause at the Missouri River.

In the three hours that followed, certainly the shortest leg so far, Suzie and her new friends somehow managed to keep each other entertained the entire day. It was about one in the afternoon when they all arrived in a small town not too far away from St. Louis called South Shore, from where they took the van off road and parked it on a small clearing right near the Mississippi River, or at least a small offshoot, which itself was still some 500 feet wide.

"So there we are." Jen said, "Our very personal little bit of the world." Suzie left the car again, to see a spot that appeared like they werent the first ones to ever have been here. "Tis great, isnt it?" Don asked her, and she had to agree, this little piece of land had some charm to it. Sure, the fireplace in the middle of the clearing was rudimentary, but anything they could possibly have here would have to be better than spending a night on a bench in a train station like she had the day before. And besides, at that rate, she would finally be with Dustin again within the next 36 hours. She would miss this crazy bunch, that much was for sure, even though they only met a few hours ago, but she had run away from home to see Dustin, and that was what she would do.

Don set the power supply for their mobile fridge up, while Jen was busy setting up the fireplace with the wood that the twins had been collecting. Suzie in the meantime had taken it upon herself to set up the tents (though she herself would probably sleep in the car, as for one, they didnt have enough tents, but also, they lacked the sleeping bags. And while sure, the seats of a minibus werent the most comfortable of sleeping spaces, it sounded heavenly compared to what she had the last few days, even if these seats were a good bit past their prime from constant use.

After everything was set up, Suzie looked at the river, and remembered that, including the day of her running away, she hadnt showered or washed eversince she climbed down the garage. "Is the river safe?" Suzie asked Jen. "Why do you think this is our spot?" Jen chuckled, "Seriously though, just dont go in too far and youll be fine." Suzie took that as a yes, and decided to undress in the van, leaving just her underwear on, her hope being that the water wouldnt carry it away.

She was a bit self conscious about it at first. Never before had she been this lightly dressed infront of anyone but a doctor, letalone infront of anyone her age. Sure, Percy was, as far as she had understood it, gay, but Alec wasnt. She didnt think he was that type of guy, but it made her uncomfortable anyway. Going into the cold water of the Mississippi River though, that surely felt good. It was something that she had most definitely needed and not even realized.

The others were quick to follow after her, first Alec, then Percy, then Jen and Don. They all ended up in a little water fight with each other relatively quickly, and had fun while doing so. It was a good distraction from the situation that she had actually found herself in. Afterall, even with her new friends, she was still a runaway, with her future still being more than uncertain. But at least, she was having real fun doing so for a change, and so did the others.  
After a day of random fun, like splashing each other in the water, seeing who could climb a tree the fastest (A category that she wasnt as great in, mainly due to the lack of trees to practice on back in Salt Lake City) and several other things, the group ended up around the fire as the evening came.

Their conversation topics werent that surprising anymore, though in many of them, Suzie didnt really have to say a lot anyway, due to her upbringing being pretty much the opposite of their lifestyle. She did have a question in mind though. A question that she wouldnt have dared to ask just days ago. "So, Percy..." she began, lacking the terms to properly formulate her question, "Did you ever... you know...?" "Do 'it'?" he asked, "Not yet, but ive been at third base before." "Im really sorry Percy, but i have no clue what that means." the group all chuckled a bit. Something that she had come to expect. It probably was a dumb question from the perspective of someone whose sex education was more sophisticated than abstinence only.

"Well," explained Jen, "See, first base is kissing, second base is touching each other, down there specifically, third is oral, and homerun is the real thing." That made sense to her so far. "Speaking of, you and Dustin, what base are you on?" "Still first." she said. "Did you ever, you know, do it yourself?" She took a second to understand the question. "One time." she said, "Only once." "Thats still quite a few times too few." Jen said, "You should do it more, if you ask me."

Don set up a small grill over their fire, taking some meat from their portable fridge that was being powered by the van. After that long day, she had surely gotten hungry. Jen also got some brownies out, but she had the feeling that these werent ordinary brownies. "Is there something in these brownies i should know about?" Suzie asked.

"You mean, besides the weed?" Jen asked, "Nothing, really." "Weed brownies actually are a thing?" she asked, somewhat surprised, "I always thought thats a fable." Don chuckled. "Trust me, these are only fables in that they taste fabulous." "But, isnt that, like, really dangerous?" she asked, "Weed i mean?" "Only if you drive while high. When it comes to overdosing, youd actively have to try doing so, and even then thats near impossible."

Suzie was surprised to learn this new information. Then again, the entire group seemed pretty a-okay despite how dangerous drugs supposedly were. She was kind of curious to try one now, but at the same time, she wasnt sure if she actually wanted to do so, or infact, if she even should. Afterall, if drugs truely were completely harmless, why would anyone make such a wind about it? Then again, she thought the same thing about numerous other things in life.  
"I think ill pass, thanks." she said. "Well, your loss." Jen smiled, before taking a bite out of hers, a move that the others mirrored. At first, she didnt really notice any change in their behaviour, but she guessed that it took a while to work. Shortly after, they all became kind of giggly, constantly grinning for no reason, then, a while after, all stuffing their faces with whatever food, besides the brownies, they could get their hands on.  
As the fire slowly cooled off, the group slowly retreated into their tents, and Suzie went into the van, into which the fridge had by now been loaded again. She lay awake for a while, thinking back on her adventure thus far, including some things that Jen had said, and soon fell asleep.


	5. The last drive to Hawkins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Suzie says goodbye to her new friends, and gives Dustin a surprise greeting.

When Suzie woke up at about 8, she realized something. Today was, if everything went well, her last day out on the road. If everything went well, today would finally be the day she would see Dustin again. That said, that was still some 6 hours from now. Plus, that was still yet one more time zone to cross. Even still, Suzie was visibly excited.

The others soon awoke aswell, and loaded the van back up for the 6 hour drive. Soon enough they had packed up and pulled back out of their little part of the world. "You know, i thought about what you told me." she told Jen, "The entire doing it myself part." "I noticed." Jen said, "You didnt exactly make a secret out of it." Suzie blushed a bit. "Was i really that loud?" she asked. "Dont worry." said one of the twins, "Its not like we all are quiet."  
Shortly after, they were actually back on the road, and they all began entertaining each other the same way they did last time. What she found to be especially fun were the rather esoteric ways of playing chess with multiple people that the group had come up with, using a magnetic chessboard, as to prevent the pieces from constantly shifting around on the board as they played.

The drive through St. Louis was rather short, especially as they didnt really go through the main parts of the city. Soon enough, they had reached the open countryside, with miles upon miles of open fields filled with all kinds of crops, the occasional intermittant village inbetween those fields. "I never thought id see this much green." she said, astounded. Sure, some of the hills around Salt Lake City were covered in green, but she had never seen anything quite like the rolling farmland of the midwest before. "Sure is impressive when you see it for the first time." One of the twins agreed, "All that plantlife can be beautiful."

All the green slowly gave way for more and more towns, which led her to slowly realize that they were, infact, not that far from Chicago. As they moved into the city, Suzie got more and more excited. It couldnt be that far to Hawkins now. As they drove however, Don suddenly stopped, as police sirens sounded in the not so far distance. Across the intersection came rushing a van, not too dissimilar from theirs, colored beige with a brown stripe on the side. She couldnt make out who was driving it, but she did see that the police cars suddenly all stopped, as out of nowhere, a stampede of cows rushed across the street, leaving the van to take off.

"Did you all just see that?" Don asked, "The stampede i mean?" Suzie had thought, at first, that she was crazy, but now that Don had confirmed what she had seen, and others did the same thing, she couldnt help but feel like it was real. "I did!" she confirmed, "Why the hell did these cows just stampede across the road? And what a timing!" She truely couldnt explain what she had just seen. Surely, that couldnt have been a halucination, the others had seen it too.

Either way, after the police cars had moved out of the way again, they continued on their path towards Hawkins. She could, by now, feel her heart pounding. After leaving Chicago proper, passing a sign saying 'Welcome to Indiana' in the process, the cityscape slowly turned back into the familiar green landscape again, as they drove down a single road, straight as an arrow, on what had to be the final stretch of their journey. As they drove on, they eventually passed the ruins of Starcourt Mall, which had burnt down not too long ago in a catastrophic fire, then past the local fire station, turning right, then halting infront of an arcade.

"There we are kiddo." Don said, "Unless you know more, thats about as close as we can get you." "Thanks a lot for even driving me out here." Suzie said, tears in her eyes as she realized that she wasnt likely to meet her new friends again, "You really didnt have to take me all the way here, yet you did." Suzie got out with all her stuff, as everyone else did aswell, giving the girl a big old group hug. "Believe me, we would do it all over for you." Jen said. "Just let me know if youre around again." she said, before they all let go of her, and drove off, Suzie waving after them until they were out of sight. Now that she was finally there, she only had to find Dustin.

Dustin was at home, distraught. It had been 5 days since he last spoke to Suzie. He had no idea what had happened to her. Had she dumped him, perhaps? Did her parents find out and stopped them from talking? Had something even worse happened to her? He didnt know.

Suzie in the meantime tried to figure out where Dustins house could possibly be. She figured that the better plan probably was to ask a local, maybe someone his age aswell, and eventually spotted someone. A red haired girl on a skateboard, around their age. Exactly who she needed. "Excuse me." she said, as she came closer to the girl, "Im looking for someone, a boy called Dustin, do you know where he lives?"

The girl looked confused over that question, asked by a total stranger. "Dustin Henderson? Curly black hair, about 5'4'', weird teeth?" she asked, "That Dustin?" Suzie couldnt be happier. "Yeah, that one." she said. "Up Cherry Road, which is this one," the girl said, probably referring to the road they were standing on, "Then right at Cherry Oak Road, then Left into Cornwallis. On the right side. Hard to miss really." "Thanks a lot." she smiled, and took off towards the house described.

Dustin still sat in his room, when all of a sudden, he heard the doorbell ring. Then again. And again. Figuring it was just Lucas again, he shouted "I told you Lucas, im not in the mood right now!" Suzie kept insisting. Eventually, Dustin had enough, and got up to tell Lucas face to face. "Like i said Lucas, i-" But it wasnt Lucas on his doorstep. "Suzie-Poo?" He asked, full of confusion, "W-what are you doing here?"

"Im so so sorry i didnt tell you Dustie-Bun." she said, "My parents found out about us, and so i ran away to the only person i knew to run to." Dustin said nothing. He just embraced his girlfriend, and placed a big kiss on her lips. "B-but... Utah is 3 states over." Dustin said, "Howd you-" "I took busses and trains until Kansas City. I met some drifters there who took me here. I hope im not coming at a bad time." "You could never have bad timing Suzie-Poo, you know that. Howd you even find my house? I dont think i ever told you." "Well this girl did." she said, "The skater girl with red hair." "You mean Max?" Dustin asked. "Oh, that was Max?" She asked, "I totally didnt recognize her!" "You have to tell me all about your journey Suzie-Poo." Dustin said, "Come inside, and put that bag down."


End file.
